Program helps inmates, at-risk youth move forward through music and lyrics

“My life isn’t over though I’ve made some mistakes It’s never too late to get your mind straight.”

Those opening lyrics from a song, “The Hard Way,” were written by an inmate in a Louisiana prison. They were produced during a workshop called, “Literacy, Music and Technology,” led by St. Stephen Church parishioner Zig Wajler.

Since 1997, Wajler, an author, musician, composer and trainer, has conducted interactive and educational music-based events with his “Hands On with Zig” initiative.

Wajler

“A good portion of my experience has been conducting programs for diverse populations throughout the nation,” said Wajler. “The communities include at-risk youth, group homes, alternative schools, detention centers and prisons.”

According to Wajler, workshop participants are encouraged to use their voice to create a message of positive change. The process empowers them to “stand up, speak out and take personal responsibility.” Along the way, they acquire important life lessons about morality, respect. courage, kindness and selflessness.

The project involves much more than just writing poetry. Participants work in small teams or classes to create an original project that, beyond lyrics, encompasses composing and arranging music with technology and recording their own voices. The final product is a mastered digital recording featuring all the songs from the workshop.

As educational as it is inspirational, the workshop helps attendees develop critical thinking and technology skills. “It’s an effective approach for goal-oriented, project-based learning applied to academic, personal and communal life skills relevant to today’s society,” Wajler said.

His ability to teach is belied by an extensive resume. Since 1995, Wajler has contracted with school systems and other educational entities as an independent professional development instructor, curriculum designer and presenter of new and adaptive learning principles. His cross-curricular programs incorporate aspects of math, social studies, science, history, language arts, physical education and social skills.

His educational partners have included Wounded Warriors, the Eastern Kentucky University Arts Collaborative, Upward Bound, the Helen Keller School, the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, Big Brothers Big Sisters and VH-1’s Save the Music.

Wajler was referred to the Phelps Correctional Center by a former director of a non-profit organization in southwest Louisiana who was familiar with some of Wajler’s writings.

“It was suggested that based on my experience working with at-risk populations that my program would have an overall positive impact reaching the offenders with a contemporary way of learning,” explained Wajler. “In addition, the workshop was deemed an extension of the offenders’ studies and classes in completing a GED.”

The workshops were attended by inmates that were selected and deemed qualified by the warden. They ranged in age from 18 to 65, and had been incarcerated for serious crimes, like theft, drug dealing, rape and murder.

At that time, the hosting organization also provided programming to an alternative school for students whose negative behaviors had become too challenging for the general education classroom setting.

“We discussed how the workshop could benefit the troubled youth by listening to the songs penned by the offenders,” said Wajler. “In other words, presenting youth with a real-world connection of consequences through those who had walked a wrongful path.”

Initially the students were given copies of the prisoners’ lyrics. Then, in a classroom setting with lead teachers present, they were asked to follow along with the lyrics while listening – without commenting – to the finished recorded songs.

This was followed by a conversation between Wajler and the students. “We had an open and honest discussion of what the lyrics meant to the students,” he said. “Every student was given an opportunity to express what he took away from the ‘message’ of the offenders.”

In general, the students described the inmates as being “real” by telling them not to “walk the same walk” they had. Wajler noted an immediate, positive change in the students’ attitude. “Many stated that prison wasn’t for them, and realized there are serious consequences by choosing the wrong path,” he said.

On the last day of the workshops at Phelps, the inmates delivered their songs in the prison chapel to an audience that included prisoners who were not selected for the program.

“The chapel was standing room only, filled with offenders listening to each song as if it were speaking directly to them,” recalled Wajler. “After each song there was thunderous applause and cheers as that song’s writers were introduced. It was a blessing to witness a renewal of self-respect and dignity as each of the songwriters humbly smiled.”

Wajler has found his work with offenders and at-risk youth to be both extremely rewarding and emotionally draining. He also feels like he learned his own important life lesson: not to judge others and to never presume you know what has transpired in someone else’s life that contributed to a particular choice.

It also made him think a lot about the concept of freedom, as he moved into and back out of the prison, and the strict set of rules even he had to adhere to during the course of his work.

“On my way back to Tennessee from Louisiana I stopped for gas and noticed a T-shirt that read, ‘The truth shall set you free,’ and the artwork was one of a prison cell with bars,” he said. “So, I purchased the T-shirt and when ayone commented on it, I took it as an opportunity to share stories of ‘inside the walls.’”

Over the years, Wajler has received numerous letters from organizations that have hosted his workshops. The majority of the letters have been written by the participants to express what the experience meant to them. “It’s very humbling reading that I was the one person who didn’t judge, and who treated them with dignity and respect,” said Wajler. “This gave them hope for a better future.”